‘Don’t even take at look at that bitch! I don’t care what she says and what she does, I never seen a piece of jailbait worse than her. You leave her be!’
I think she is very lonely as many people have this impression and is one of the only people eon the ranch that has no one at all to chat to. When she tries to talk to the workers, they seem to act as thought she will get them into trouble and often ignore her. This defiantly adds to her loneliness.
‘Why cant I talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody. I get awful lonely.’
One of the main reasons she is so lonely is because of her husband, Curley. Curley forbids her to leave the house. Curley was her second choice in the world and makes her feel like it as well. Her real dream was to be in acting and was promised by a man that he would write to her. This never happened, but she always believed that it would come.
Because of her dreams falling apart, she becomes married to Curley. Now she is trapped on the ranch with no one to talk to and visit, and becomes one of the most lonely characters in the book.
Curley
You can tell Curley is lonely all through the book. He doesn’t have any friends, and none of the ranch workers like or trust him, so he picks fights on many of the characters, so it makes him look strong and big. He likes to show he has power and his reputation must stay high so he picks fights on people who he thinks he can beat. Maybe Curley is only like this as he hasn’t got many friends. In a way, I feel sorry for Curley as he is a lonely man and no one actually respects him.
Crooks
Crooks is also one of the loneliest characters in the book. Crooks has no one to talk to, no one to be with and no one to stop him from going mad. People didn’t want to be with crooks because he was different, and was an outcast. Because of this, he didn’t know what was right and wrong. He doesn’t know if he’s dreamed things and how to behave around the other people in the ranch. In chapter 4, you can see the loneliness affecting Crooks, as he starts to turn around and be horrible to Lennie, saying what would he do if George didn’t come back. And then saying that’s how he feels all the time, knowing there isn’t anyone there for him.
‘Maybe you can see now. You know he’s coming back. S’pose you aint got nobody. S’pose you couldn’t go to the bunkhouse and play rummy cause you was black. A guy needs somebody.’ Pg 76
Crooks likes to talk to Lennie as he knows he will keep a secret and can chat to him like he never chats to any other person. Crooks starts to describe his earliest memories and begins to reflect his own life. After picking on Lennie, Crooks finds confidence that make him feel almost equal to Candy and Lennie.
In the story, the characters, Crooks, Candy, and Curleys Wife seem to suffer from the most Loneliness, even though all the characters seem to suffer somehow from it. I see this as one of the main themes that the Author was trying to put across to the reader of the Novel. Loneliness.